More About Scorebooks

Submitted by Carole Patterson

Okay, you have your scorebook and you've been trialing your dog. This club trial, that club trial, a regional competition, Nationals, etc. Suddenly you realize when you enter your next trial that this is the final slot in your scorebook. And you haven't the faintest idea what to do about getting other one for this same dog. He still has plenty of trials left in him and you enjoy trialing him. Well, don't panic. It really couldn't be simpler. You do not, repeat do NOT, have to send your original scorebook over to the DVG office in Germany. There's this wonderful invention called a photocopy machine. It takes whatever you put on the screen and makes an exact duplicate of it. And that's what you send or fax to Germany. You might as well fax it because that way you don't have to worry about the time it takes to mail it over. If you notice up in the left hand corner of your score ­book, under the words Leistungs-Urkunde, there's a number, such as 006291/0. The slash zero indicates this is your first scorebook on this dog. The scorebook that will be sent to you by the DVG office will have the same number, except like this: 006291/1. This means you've gone through one scorebook already and this is your second one on this dog.

That's all there is to it. When you go to your next trial, take both scorebooks with you. The original scorebook will prove that you have the VPG 3 or IPO 3 or whatever, and once you've participated in the first trial with the new scorebook, you can file the first one away with your other papers and only pull it out when you're ready to copy it again for proof of points for your next level handler's pin.

Here's the next follow-up with a scorebook. You just bought a dog from Germany. The dog comes to you with a dhv/DVG scorebook. Super! You won't even have to send for a scorebook for the dog, since it already has a DVG scorebook. Right? Wrong. The scorebooks we use here in LV America are not exactly identical to those used in Germany by DVG members. You do have to send for a new scorebook in your name with your club affiliation on it. It's not a big deal, just something you have to do. Again, you photocopy the scorebook, both sides, showing any titles the dog has earned. You fill out a scorebook application--completely (available on the LV America website to fill in and print). You can either mail or fax the scorebook copy and the application along with a short note (and yes, you can write in English) saying that you have purchased this dog and request a scorebook in your name. Now, if by chance the scorebook arrives without the "Previous titles on record in office. The dog has a VPG ?" typed into the first slot on the scorebook, don't panic. You simply take the old scorebook with you to the first trial you enter with the dog and give it to the trial chairman/secretary along with your new, pristine scorebook. This shows proof of the titles previously earned by the dog and that is sufficient, even if that information hasn't been put on the new scorebook. The information is entered in the computer data base in the DVG office in Germany and so should not be a problem when the trial results are sent from your first trial with the dog. Putting the previous title information into the new scorebook was simply over­looked in the processing. I have that on the best authority - Marion Knappe, who handles the scorebook applications in the DVG office. I had received a new scorebook for one of my club members without the previous title information in it, and emailed Marion to ask if I needed to send it back. This was the information she gave me. Makes it simpler.

One additional scorebook situation, and this one will require sending the scorebook to Germany. You've purchased your dog from another LV/DVG America member and the previous owner hands over the dog's scorebook. Great. Now you can go right ahead and enter the dog in the upcoming trial with this scorebook. It's an American type dhv/DVG scorebook, so everything's okay. Right? Wrong, again. Nope, as far as DVG/Germany is concerned, this dog still belongs to the previous owner, because no one has informed the office that the dog has been sold. The scorebook still shows the previous owner's name on it and your name is nowhere to be found. Any tides you put on the dog using this scorebook will be automatically logged into the data base under the previous owner's name. And any entry form you fill out showing yourself as the handler AND owner of the dog is wrong and any trial chairman/secretary worth his or her salt will require you to redo the entry form showing the "real" owner's name as the owner. You can be the handler, but you can't be the owner until you follow the required procedure.

In this case, you do have to send the scorebook over to the DVG office in Germany. Ideally, it would be best if you had a short letter from the previous owner saying that he/she has sold you the dog. However, since it is assumed that you're basically an honest person, if you simply write such a note yourself, saying that you have purchased the dog from so-and-so as on such-and-such date, they'll probably believe you. You must send this along with the dog's original scorebook (not a copy) to the DVG office in Germany. If you look on the scorebook, on the same side as the owner information, but on the other half, there are the following words: Eintragungen uber Eigentumswechsel. This simply means Registration of Owner Exchange. When Y0U send over the letter and the original scorebook, the office will enter a date of sale and your name and address and then stamp and sign it. Once you get it back, you're legal to enter any trial with the scorebook, showing yourself as the owner and handler.

All of these things really aren't difficult, but they are necessary. A judge can and should prohibit you from entering a trial if your scorebook is completely full. With no place to make an entry of the trial results, essentially, you're "auditing" the trial, if you're allowed to enter. You shouldn't be. You as a handler have a responsibility and that is to be completely and correctly prepared to enter a trial. Whining that you forgot the last trial filled up your scorebook doesn't cut it. YOU are the handler. YOU are the owner. It's your job to act responsibly and not cause problems for the judge or the trial chairman/secretary. So the next trial you enter, look at your scorebook. How many more slots are left on it ? Three? Two? One? At three, you're probably still okay. At two, I'd photocopy the thing today and fax it over to Germany. At one, you're on really thin ice. Don't make problems for yourself. Do it. Same is true for a dog you've just purchased, whether with a German dhv/DVG scorebook or an American one. In one case, you can photocopy it, fill out a scorebook application and send for an American one that way. In the other case, you need to send the whole thing over and have it properly registered and signed off on.

And if the dog has ANY other kind of scorebook-SV; ADRK, DV; or even a USA scorebook, etc. You, as a DVG member, may NOT enter a DVG trial with that scorebook. May NOT, I emphasize. Photocopy it (assuming the dog has titles) and fax it with a complete and correctly filled out scorebook application over to the DVG office. And don't wait until 2 weeks before the trial. Why ask for that brain damage. Send for the scorebook as soon as you get the dog. Once you've followed all these procedures for whatever your own situation is, you'll have your scorebook and be ready to enter any trial you wish. And everyone will be happy, not the least the judge and trial chairman/secretary.